Whizz Read Free Page B

that.”
    “It hurts all the time, Dalton. I can’t sleep through the night without waking up in fear. The door knocks, and I get scared. I pass men who walk like they did, and I get scared.”
    “Do you think I don’t get scared? I was there. I saw what those fucking animals did to you.”
    “It’s all you see.”
    He reached out to touch her face, but she couldn’t handle his touch.
    “Lacey?”
    “I just wanted it to stop.”
    Dalton touched her face, forcing her to look at him. “If you take your life and I’m not there in time to save you, I’ll follow you.”
    She gasped. “What?”
    “You heard me. If I can’t save you then I’ll join you.”
    Lacey shook her head. “You wouldn’t.”
    “I would. I’m not going to live this life without you. I carried you to the hospital. I helped bring you back. I’m responsible for you, and I’m not going to turn my back on you.”
    ****
    Pulling out of the memory, Lacey collapsed to her knees on the floor. She couldn’t do it if it was reversed. Lacey was weak as she didn’t want to die enough to join the man who’d saved her at every turn. At thirty years old, there was no one she loved, yet she craved the touch of a man who’d taken it all away. She covered her face, shame consuming her, and she curled up in a ball in the hope of keeping all the bad memories away.

 
    Chapter One
     
    Whizz entered the kitchen to find Angel standing at the stove with Eva working around her. Six children sat at the large table throwing food at each other. He ducked as a maple syrup covered pancake was launched past his head.
    “Tabitha, stop it,” Eva said, going red in the face.
    Miles started laughing, as did Anthony. Simon, Tate’s son, was avidly watching the chaos unfolding.
    “You said they’d eat the pancakes,” Angel said, looking guilty.
    “I thought they would.”
    “Simon!” Tabitha screamed the name.
    “What’s going on?” Whizz said.
    Michael, Alex’s son, was sitting in the corner eating his pancakes. The little guy looked so sad. Alex sat beside his son trying to talk to him. No one answered Whizz’s question. Seconds passed with the noise getting louder than ever. Whizz was just about to leave when Michael scraping back his chair brought the noise to a stop.
    “I hate you!” he yelled at Alex before storming off. The rest of the kids finally decided to be quiet as Eva glared at all of them. Alex slumped down in his seat, looking defeated.
    “What was that about?” Whizz asked, deciding to stay away from the kids and frazzled women.
    “Not a lot.” Alex was staring at the door the boy had vacated.
    “You’re telling me that attitude is because of nothing?” Whizz took a seat beside the other man. Alex had become a father unexpectedly a year ago. None of the club knew that he’d been with a woman until Cheryl started dating Butch. Alex hadn’t claimed her, but he’d become a father to Michael. In some strange way their dynamic worked. Whizz didn’t know how it was working with Butch in hospital recovering from his wounds.
    “He wants to visit Butch. I don’t want him anywhere near Butch. Cheryl and I aren’t talking right now. She blames me for everything that went down.” He ran fingers through his hair. Alex suddenly looked old. The other man had a part within the club even though he’d been in Vegas for a great deal of time running a casino. Since finding out about his son, Alex had turned the casino over to a guy he trusted who ran the main bulk of their affairs. Alex did everything he could from Fort Wills.
    “Why won’t you let him?” Whizz asked. Butch was still a stepfather to the kid and been in his life a little longer than Alex.
    “Look, it was my idea him working for Gonzalez, okay? Tiny and I agreed it would help us. I didn’t tell him to start feeding information to the Savage Brothers. I thought they were fucking dead, wiped out by Gonzalez’s old man.” Alex leaned back in his chair, staring across the